South Windsor Looks To Revise Demolition Delay Ordinance

SOUTH WINDSOR — Town officials are moving forward with plans to revise an existing town ordinance that delays the demolition of historically significant local buildings.

The original ordinance, which the town council passed in January 2011, requires property owners to delay for up to 180 days plans to demolish or significantly alter buildings that are at least 75 years old and meet certain criteria. The delay does not prohibit demolition, but is intended to provide time to consider preservation options, including transplanting or adapting a historic building for reuse.

At a town council meeting earlier this month, Town Attorney Kari L. Olson said that the proposed revisions to the ordinance were intended to standardize requirements for all property owners.

"We needed a clean, fine line so that nobody could claim there was any kind of arbitrary or capricious application," Olson said.

Olson said that in making the revisions, town officials were careful to ensure that many ranch-style homes built in the 1940s — which are not yet deemed historically significant — would not fall under the ordinance's purview. Olson said that town officials wanted to avoid making plans to demolish or alter these properties unnecessarily burdensome for property owners.

The propsed revision would define a building that is eligible for the delay as a "significant structure," replacing previous language that identifies applicable buildings as those which would be "preferably preserved," said Virginia Macro, chairwoman of the town's Historic District Comission.

Revisions would also remove the property owner's option to appeal to the zoning board and reduce penalties for noncompliance, Macro said.

However, safeguards, including a public hearing, would still be in place for property owners who want to dispute a demolition delay on their property.

At Monday's town council meeting, councilors scheduled a public hearing on Sept. 4 to allow residents to voice their opinions about the proposed changes. The council will likely vote on the ordinance later this fall.

Macro, who originally proposed the ordinance, said in a phone interview that she was hopeful that the revised ordinance would be passed.

"You don't want to stop progress, obviously, but when you have this character to the town, you want to preserve it as much as you can," Macro said.